Why I do the things that I do.
Not so that I may earn or keep my salvation but rather cos I love Him and I wanna please Him, no more than a child wanting to please her parents just by being a good girl. EVEN with the knowing that they love me all the same.
I remember this song my 5 yr-old friend taught me when I was 10...
"Jesus loves me this I know
For the bible tells me so
Jesus loves me when I'm bad
Tho' that makes Him very sad
Yes Jesus loves me
Yes Jesus loves me
Yes Jesus loves me
For the bible tells me so"
On my bible reference, it says, "How hard should we obey the bible?"
Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. (2 Chronicles 34:31)
I thank the Lord God for His encouragement and assurance that all things we do, no matter how little and whether it is done in the secret or in the open, He knows. And I wanna encourage all of us to continue to be faithful in the little things, for they do not go unnoticed. Tho' we do not do it for a reward, but we do it out of our love for our Lord Jesus Christ, who is always faithful and ever loving.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Forgiveness
To a dear friend,
I write to you with love... on what I know to be biblical; to be God's word and truth... I preach not, and will not impose this upon you, for God gives us free will, and will never force Himself upon us. Hence, I write in here to share with you on the topic of forgiveness...
"Teach us how to pray," the disciples said to Jesus. (Luke 11:1) He answered by teaching them the prayer we call the Our Father or The Lord's Prayer:
"...Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. "
This petition of the Lord's Prayer is a demanding one. Not only do we ask God's forgiveness for our daily offenses, but we link God's forgiveness of us with our forgiveness of others. Forgiving others is not always easy to do. We need God's help to do it. But it must be done or we ourselves cannot receive God's mercy.
The parable of the unforgiving servant:
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ (Matt 18:28)
Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:32-35)
When I speak of the unforgiving man, I speak of the man who is stubborn, whose heart is hardened and who finds no room in him to offer forgiveness to others even as he is forgiven. I trust that my friend has been offered grace by our Lord God, and has rendered forgiveness to others even when it is difficult. Surely our Lord is bigger than any of our sins, but He asks that we forgive others as He forgave us.
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25)
And with so many verses from the bible where God asks us to forgive, surely it is His will that we forgive so that we may too be forgiven.
Dear friend, I write to you with grace and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I trust that you have forgiveness as the Lord has been gracious in forgiving us. The unforgiving man I speak about is not you, but the one whose heart is hardened, who finds no room in his heart to forgive. For if God's spirit is in us, surely we will always have room to love and to forgive, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
Amen.
I write to you with love... on what I know to be biblical; to be God's word and truth... I preach not, and will not impose this upon you, for God gives us free will, and will never force Himself upon us. Hence, I write in here to share with you on the topic of forgiveness...
"Teach us how to pray," the disciples said to Jesus. (Luke 11:1) He answered by teaching them the prayer we call the Our Father or The Lord's Prayer:
"...Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. "
This petition of the Lord's Prayer is a demanding one. Not only do we ask God's forgiveness for our daily offenses, but we link God's forgiveness of us with our forgiveness of others. Forgiving others is not always easy to do. We need God's help to do it. But it must be done or we ourselves cannot receive God's mercy.
The parable of the unforgiving servant:
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ (Matt 18:28)
Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:32-35)
When I speak of the unforgiving man, I speak of the man who is stubborn, whose heart is hardened and who finds no room in him to offer forgiveness to others even as he is forgiven. I trust that my friend has been offered grace by our Lord God, and has rendered forgiveness to others even when it is difficult. Surely our Lord is bigger than any of our sins, but He asks that we forgive others as He forgave us.
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25)
And with so many verses from the bible where God asks us to forgive, surely it is His will that we forgive so that we may too be forgiven.
Dear friend, I write to you with grace and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I trust that you have forgiveness as the Lord has been gracious in forgiving us. The unforgiving man I speak about is not you, but the one whose heart is hardened, who finds no room in his heart to forgive. For if God's spirit is in us, surely we will always have room to love and to forgive, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
Amen.
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